SOME of the persons in Region Five who want to be elected independent councillors at the upcoming Local Government Elections 2018 will be campaigning with the welfare of youth as their priority.
Guyana Chronicle caught up with three such councilors, namely Ismay Dalrymple, Julius Nurse and Kelvin Mingo
They all said that their motivation was to take up leadership positions within their community and contribute to a positive impact on the quality of the lives and welfare of their constituents.
Ismay Dalrymple, who is a resident of the Golden Grove Lovely Lass Community on the West Coast of Berbice, is running for election for the first time.
“I am concerned about the problems affecting young people particularly young females. I am deeply concerned about teenage pregnancies and will work with the Council to find ways and means of assisting these young girls to continue their education after the have given birth,” he said.
According to Dalrymple, she was urged by residents to run for office.
“I have done work in the community in sports, culture and community development; in 2003, I helped to resuscitate Emancipation celebrations in this community after a lapse of 42 years; and I have also been organising Christmas parties for children in the community for several years now,” she said.
Dalrymple said it was her activity within the community that caused residents to urge her to run as an independent councillor and seek to shape policy at that level to improve the quality of their lives. Her symbol for election is ‘Hand in Hand’– one hand supporting the other to make all things possible.
Julius Mark Anthony Nurse, who is from Number 10 village or No 10 District, is also running for election as an independent councillor.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
“I been living in this district for all my life and I see a lot of room for improvement of the quality of life of my fellow residents. Residential drainage in my mind is a priority. Proper drainage and irrigation for this mainly farming community is another major need if our farmers are to become more productive and wealthy… so also is the lack of amenities for sports and recreation for our youths. There is need for these facilities, as well as mentors who would help to keep the youths on the right track to contribute in a positive way to the development of their community. I am running because I want to see improvement in the quality of life of my fellow villagers that can be made through local government.”
Kelvin Mingo also known as “Fighter” was elected to the Profitt /Rising Sun Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) at the last LGE as an independent councillor.
“I am running as independent again. I must say that there has been some progress in this current term of office, but I think I got a lot of things more to do for my community. We want more streets in the area because there are some undeveloped lands and if we get streets and we get access roads water and so on; eventually people will build more houses and the village would become more developed; the unemployment situation of youths, particularly those who have dropped out from school is a burning issue; I don’t know what the NDC can do about this, but I feel that this is an area that needs to be urgently addressed and if I am re-elected, I would have to see how we move more energetically to deal with this problem.” His symbol is a rice plant with the slogan “Progress for All.”
